via Zim fall in World Cup opener – The Zimbabwean 15 February 2015 by Lisa Dube
Zimbabwe national cricket team were off to a bad start of the 2015 International Cricket Council World Cup when they suffered a 62-run loss against neighbors South Africa on Sunday in Hamilton, New Zealand.
Dav Whatmore’s men won the toss and threw in their opponents to the crease to bat first. South Africa scored 339 with David Miller and JP Duminy’s unbeaten 138 and 115 being the heart of their innings.
Zimbabwe’s decision to field first could have worked well to their advantage had they maintained a good wicket harvest they embarked on in the first 20.2overs.
They claimed their first wicket from opener Quinton de Kock who was dismissed by Tendai Chatara for just seven runs with the last ball of the fourth over. Tinashe Panyangara bowled experienced batsman Hashim Amla for 11runs leaving South Africa at 21 for the loss of two wickets. Faf du Plessis was the next victim after being caught by wicket keeper Brendan Taylor off Elton Chigumbura for 24runs. The Zimbabwean were in control of the game with South Africa dropping from 67/3 after du Plessis’ dismissal to 83/4 as captain AB deVilliers left the crease having contributed just 25runs.
The 29.4 overs that followed saw Zimbabwean bowling attack losing its venom giving away boundaries that saw an unbeaten 268-runs partnership of Duminy and Miller increasing South Africa’s total to a defendable 339.
In reply, Zimbabwe opener Chamu Chibhabha (64) put up a brave fight despite losing his opening partner Sikander Raza early in the seventh over. Chibhabha’s 102-run partnership with Hamilton Masakadza -the top scorer for the day with 80 off 98 deliveries- was not enough to help them escape defeat for a victory in Hamilton.
Test captain, Taylor smashed four boundaries and one six in chase for a possible ton that could have saved Zimbabwe but he was caught by Vernon Philander off Morne Morkel. From then on, Zimbabwe struggled to find a hero of the day who could push them to their 340 target with a bit of some hope rising with Solomon Mire’s arrival on the crease.
But Mire only managed two fours and two sixes before Philander decided to send him back to the pavilion. Captin Chigumbura realized the loss of Chibhabha and Masakadza in the game changed the course of the game as Zimbabwe failed to regain control.
“I think we lost wickets at the wrong time when Chibhabha was playing and also when Hamilton was playing, once they were dismissed we were under pressure from there,” he said.
“Im happy with the performance because l think we were in the game longer than what we used to do and that is something good for games to come.”
Zimbabwe face the United Arab Emirates in their next Pool B match on Thursday.
COMMENTS
South Africa had a bad day at the office and Zimbabwe never came close. South Africa’s fast bowlers were not able to get anything out of the wicket and Zimbabwe will never have a better opportunity to beat South Africa, and they still came up short.
Zimbabwe did extremely well under the circumstances. Bear in mind that South Africa is the No.1 cricket nation in the world, they have so much more depth than Zimbabwe and are not plagued by corruption and other restrictions where players are subjected to salary issues etc.
South Africa have a diversity of players from all communities not Zimbabwe